The US government has alleged that Russia is
sending attack helicopters to the regime and warned that Syria’s conflict could
become even deadlier. Russia has continued to insist that any arms it supplies
to the country are not being used to suppress anti-government dissent.
Personally I think that’s bullshit- Russia's veto of the UN security council
resolution on Syria was followed by reports of continuing arms sales by
Russia's state arms trader.
It is estimated that almost 10,000 civilians have been killed in Syria –
the time has come for Russia to stop transferring arms to Syria. But
Russia isn’t the only one responsible for the deadly but booming arms trade-
$45-60 billion arms sales are agreed each year. Each year enough bullets are made
to kill every person on this planet twice; At least 1500 people are killed in
armed conflict & violence every single day- these deaths are not
unavoidable. They are the tragic consequence of an arms trade that is out of
control.
It is one of most corrupt trades in world, a lot of
the arms that western governments have sold have gone into the hands of
military dictatorships or corrupt governments. Tea gas grenades used by Egypt
security forces to gas their own citizens in November 2011 were supplied by the
US, some were even made in the UK. A recent Amnesty report highlighted
how the UK, USA, France and other countries sent weapons to Libya, Bahrain and
Yemen despite clear signs that these weapons would be used by repressive
governments against its own civilians.
This senseless violence could have stopped a long time ago, but for
Russia and China vetoing UN Security Council resolutions, putting profit from
arms sales before people.
We
have treaties to regulate the global trade of many products, even Bananas,
dinosaur bones, postage stamps, but not guns & bullets- there is virtually
no accountability on how weapons are traded between countries, or how they are
used.
There
will be a meeting at the United Nations in New York next month, where countries
from around the world will gather to negotiate the first-ever international
arms trade treaty.
The aim of such a
treaty is to have a globally agreed set of standards to regulate the trade of
all conventional arms, stopping the sale of weapons to places that pose a
serious risk to human rights.
A
draft treaty has already been published, which – if adopted – would ban all
weapons sales to countries that could use them to abuse human rights, or
encourage corruption or armed violence. Most countries support the idea of such a treaty,
but under pressure from their own arms
industry, some want it watered down. China, India, Pakistan want to
leave out small arms like machine guns & assault weapons. US wants to leave
out bullets. Anna Macdonald, head of arms
control campaigning at Oxfam, states: "Guns are useless without bullets.
Bullets are what turn guns into lethal weapons. It is absolutely essential that
the sale of ammunition is included in the treaty. It would be totally
irrational to leave it out. The price paid in human lives for the trade in
ammunition is incalculable."
The
UN security council's permanent members, China, France, Russia, UK and the USA,
are also (alongside Germany) the world's largest profiteers from arms
sales. If this treaty is
going to work, it needs to include a wide range of weapons, equipment &
deals, & it must safeguard human rights.
There
is a need to push for a treaty that regulates and asks states to track their
sales of ammunitions. The problem is that conflict zones are already flooded
with weapons. It is the continued sale of ammunition that makes those weapons
far more deadly than the clubs they would be otherwise.
The
UK government must take a leading role in the international talks to secure a
binding and comprehensive arms trade treaty to
stem the flow of weapons and ammunition to rights abusing governments. To
help save those lives all you need to do is persuade Cameron to get it right. He
can only do that by publically committing that the UK will not compromise on
human rights during the negotiations.
The world needs a
bullet proof arms trade treaty. Please email your MP now asking them to support
one
For further
information on this, here’s a few links:
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